Archives: September 2015

These past few years there has been major to talk about women and feminism, and with so much discussion, you would think there would be nothing left to talk about, but there is. Everyone has been throwing around the word “feminism” and vocally defining it, and though women’s rights and roles have grown and improved, there is still a lack of women at the top. Fortune 500 companies including MacGraw-Hill, Sysco, and Walmart severely lack women in their leadership roles. In 2013, a Catalyst survey showed that only 16.9% of corporate board member seats were held by women by these major companies, marking little progress since 2000. It also showed that 10% had no women at all on their boards.

President and CEO of catalyst, Ilene H. Lang commented, “There are plenty of qualified women ready for board and top executive positions, as some companies have proven. It’s important (to hire women into these positions) and it’s not hard.”

Today, the complaints carry on as the numbers have not improved enough.

According to the Windsor Star, there is a new program aimed to help improve women’s roles. It’s called Positioning Women for Success-Windsor-Essex, and it centers around supporting women’s “confidence” and training their leadership skills.

To start the program is going to identify and address the barriers women have in obtaining senior management positions. Both companies who have male-and female-dominated environments are being included to receive the most accurate data from the process.

Enwin Utilities will be the first company to begin the program starting this January. They will select three or four women to participate for a period of three to four months.

The reception of the new program has been mixed. Some seem hopeful that this will aid in solidifying women’s positions at the top while others are doubtful. Enwin human resources generalist, Rosanna Kemsley has said that time and time again she has seen women pass up positions because of lacking confidence and fearing failure. Hopefully, early next year the program will be able to change that, and women will be on their way to making a large impact on the highest levels of the corporate world.